Every generation has its special "something" that moves it forward (like the The Industrial Revolution, The Digital Revolution). In The Tels, The idea of a "biolution", a media phrase that describes the technological fallout from the fusion of organic and synthetic chip manufacturing, is used to create a fabric of technology to the background of the story.

...The car Tarris piloted was as much a car of the last century as milk that was actually milked. Or a building that was actually built. The Biolution of the mid-21st century had changed much of life....The Biolution affected everything in its path. Like a monstrous Midwestern thunderstorm, it swept across the human landscape. Even the most sacred of resources could
not escape its effect. The corpulent oil industry that dominated the world since the late-19th century was irrevocably changed. Gas now could be synthetically made with biotechnology, cheaply and without end. The power of
the Arab nations disappeared almost overnight and, with it, the collective grip they held on the throat of the world.